the first one I found on Imperial flags blog:
Also of interest is the hand appears to be a left hand instead of right, and the field is a lighter blue than the Union Flag in the canton, possibly originally St Patrick's blue?It has the caption "Large Vintage Blue British Empire Ulster/Northern Ireland Flag measuring 8ft 8" by 4ft 2" but no other information.
The Next flag came from someone asking for help to identify it on Reddit. It came from a photo on a BBC website article about "Scottish independence: How would 'Yes' vote affect Northern Ireland?"
It is Dr David Hume (director of services at Grand Orange Lodge in Northern Ireland) standing in front of a banner which reads "Derry walls. No surrender. Derry. L-O. Y-B. ...19(?)". The banner has a painting of a soldier stood upon fort ramparts holding the flag in question. I can safely say the flag has nothing to do with either Londonderry or the siege of Derry. I made a picture of the flag:
Any help in identifying either of these flags would be appreciated
I found the answer to the top one
ReplyDeleteIt appears that a varrity of unoffical flags were used in the 1920s and 30s. The flags of the world website quote:
"(1) in a memorandum of the Northern Ireland Ministry of Home Affairs on 17th July 1926 (HA8/270, MHA, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland) a civil servant reports that he has recently seen (a) the Ulster Arms [by which he must mean the Northern Ireland arms, and presumably just the shield itself?] superimposed on the Union Jack, (b) a Blue Ensign and a Red Ensign with the same arms, and (c) a plain blue flag with the Arms of Ulster [or rather of Northern Ireland?] surrounded by six stars.
(2) The "Irish News" of 24th October 1932, p.4, is quoted as stating that (a) a Union Jack charged with a shield bearing the arms of Ulster [again, presumably those of Northern Ireland?] was often flown from Belfast City Hall, and that many Belfast merchants flew (b) "a blue ensign charged with the Arms of Northern Ireland surrounded by six stars".
It may be observed that all these were not mere proposals but had actually been seen in use."
This appears to be one of those flags
The first flag is one that was made around the time of the Ulster Covenant and the large rallies held ib Balmoral by Carson ralling against the idea of Home Rule.
ReplyDeleteSearch for Donal Fallon Dublin Historian, he knows more about this.